Bibliotheca Alexandrina Planetarium Science Center SUMMER 2015 | Year 8, Issue 3 IN THIS ISSUE... Planetarium Dancing with Science Center 4 the Stars Light: Around the World in 5 The SUMMER 2015 a Solar Plane Source Year 8, Issue 3 The Hands that & Future 6 Cultural Outreach Sector Lit the World of Educational & Promotional NanoLight: World’s Most Publications Unit (COPU) 9 Efficient Light Bulb Life By: Maissa Azab Maissa Azab 10 Daylighting Our Lives Head of Unit On the most fundamental level universe, cure diseases, and even Light Combating Editorial Team 11 Viruses through photosynthesis, light is solve crimes. Shahenda Ayman necessary to the existence of life Even if we cannot see the Hend Fathy itself. It plays a vital role in our daily entire electromagnetic spectrum, Esraa Ali 12 Healing Light lives and is an imperative cross- visible and invisible light waves cutting discipline of science in the are a part of our everyday life. Lamia Ghoneim 14 Light: The Unspoken 21st century. It has revolutionized Photonics is everywhere; in Jailane Salem Language medicine, opened up international consumer electronics (barcode Basma Fawzy communication via the Internet, scanners, DVD players, remote Ahmed Khaled Communication at the and continues to be central to TV control), telecommunications 15 Speed of Light! linking cultural, economic, and (Internet), health (eye Design Team political aspects of the global surgery, medical instruments), Asma Haggag Lighting Up Their society. manufacturing industry (laser 16 Own World When we think of light cutting and machining), defense Maha Sherin and energy, there are two and security (infrared camera, Faten Mahmoud approaches that come to mind. remote sensing), entertainment The World through 18 The latter is the use of powerful (holography, laser shows), and Publishing Department their Eyes lasers to create fusion under more. Language Revision controlled conditions. The former All around the world, Art: is, of course, solar energy, scientists, engineers, and Contact Us: 20 which provides a practically- technicians perform cutting edge [email protected] The Offspring of Light inexhaustible resource that will research surrounding the field of SCIplanet The Prince of enhance sustainability, reduce Photonics, which opens a world 21 pollution, and lower the cost of of unknown and far-reaching Shadow and Light mitigating climate change. possibilities limited only by lack of Social media, low cost imagination. Exploring the Human 22 telephone calls, video conferencing We dedicate this issue to Civilization Enigma with family and friends; these are Light, the source and future of life. three examples of how the Internet Among the topics we approach allows people around the world to and the valuable contributions feel connected in a way that has of our regular collaborators, we never before been possible in history. tackle historical and modern For additional information All of this technology is because of aspects relating to artificial lighting, | WINTER 2014 and reservation, please contact: light thanks to optical fibers. how light helps cure diseases, the [email protected] Photonics is the science role of light in communication, | SUMMER 2015 of light. It is the technology of how special organisms produce Tel.: +(203) 4839999 generating, controlling, and their own light, and how different Ext.: 2350, 2351 detecting light waves and photons, organisms perceive light to see Fax: +(203) 4820464 which are particles of light. The the world around them. www.bibalex.org/psc characteristics of the waves and We hope our new issue lights photons can be used to explore the up your life! 2 Lightor Dark? By: Craig Dykers Founding Partner, Snøhetta erhaps the study of light is the well-being and the relationship between and nourishes light in changing directions Pstudy of time. Each thing we see the body and mind. In a stoa, people move throughout the day. The Ryerson Early actually occurred a moment earlier. Light along the long axis, discussing theory or Learning Centre in Toronto captures the is not only an ephemeral condition, it is simply reviewing the day’s affairs. Walking shapes of clouds, sunlight interacts with physical. There is no good replacement from one end of the stoa to the other, multicolored floors and draws you in and for direct contact with the Sun. We have guests would flow, turn around and repeat out of the building by reflection. seen in recent years the increase of health the stroll. Each time a return trip was Human nature has changed little in problems related to some architectural made, the light and the dark sides of the millennia, and certain core aspects of design decisions that ignore this basic room in relation to the body would switch. what it is to be human will likely remain relationship between life and light. There was never a single relation to light for generations to come. Due to this, it is Everything in this complex relationship in these spaces. These types of spaces possible to explore the core aspects of with light is tied to our history and our became the foundation of the Academia light and how they affect us. In a sunny development as people. where Aristotle, Socrates and Plato built climate, it may be the tiniest shaft of light One of the earliest structures the philosophical agendas that most of through the trees or a tent cover that dedicated to knowledge, the forerunner the western world is founded on today. provides the paradigm for appreciating of our modern libraries, was the stoa. In One can imagine the great Alexandrian these relationships with the Sun. The ancient Greece, the stoa was a temple-like thinkers, Erastothenes or Hypatia walking vitality of light is so important to us that it structure, but was different in many ways. and thinking in such a way on a gentle cannot be ignored. It is wider than it is deep, and its axis of Alexandrian evening. movement is generally perpendicular to Physical movement combined with a the direction in which it is entered. Like a relationship to light promotes well-being porch, one wall of the stoa is colonnaded both physically and intellectually. We have and open to the exterior, unlike a portico at used this simple principle in many of our a temple that is meant primarily to frame a built designs. Such planning is however smaller doorway. The temple is dedicated generally invisible, or at least it does not | SUMMER 2015 to revering wisdom, the stoa is dedicated readily show itself in the way most people to creating wisdom. The Hellenistic stoa think, formally. was very likely the prototype for the Our oldest and our newest projects Ancient Library of Alexandria. are two libraries where this thinking is Several features of the stoa are embedded. The Library of Alexandria is relevant to the understanding of physical framed by a vast roof that holds, spreads 3 Scientists can tell whether there will be more solar wind or not by keeping track of the presence of sunspots. So, how does this solar wind act? It is basically a constant stream with varying intensity depending on the solar cycle; it can travel at a speed of 400 km/sec and can take around two to four days to reach Earth. The plasma, which is a key component, is made up of positively charged atoms and electrons that float around one another. Their high energy charge, along with the expansion of the magnetic field, allow them to escape the gravitational field of the Sun and set them By: Jailane Salem at the Sun’s core, a reaction where on route to us. hydrogen atoms merge to form helium Wow! So are we constantly being takes place, releasing a lot of energy and Elusive dancing lights in the sky, bombarded by solar wind? Yes, we are! A COSMIC POINT OF VIEW light that radiates from the inner core of flickering across the navy–blue blanket How are we still intact if we stand in the Stars the Sun to its surface. way of such a strong force barreling that shrouds the world at nightfall. An The heated gas becomes plasma enchanting sight like no other; anyone towards us through space? Well, luckily that flows in huge eddies from the core would be awestruck at its magnificence. we have our own magnetic field that to the surface through convection. When It is none other than the sighting of the shields us from the brunt of the impact. the plasma gets heated from the core, Aurora Borealis and Aurora Australis; Several billion tons of plasma have it rises to the surface in a continual these amazing natural light displays that come our way; however, all have been cycle; it becomes so hot that it becomes occur at the Earth’s Poles, the Arctic and deflected by the Earth’s magnetic field. electrically charged, creating powerful Antarctic, confounding people for a long This magnetic field that shields us is magnetic fields as it moves up and down time. invisible; it is created by the hot molten the convection currents. Since the Sun Many myths and legends were iron found at the center of our planet. spins on its axis the plasma also flows created across the ages to explain this The circulation of this liquid metal sideways, which in turn wounds the awe-inspiring phenomenon; however, creates electric currents that produce the magnetic field lines, which keep getting we have only lately come to a better magnetic field, which shoots out of the stronger until they eventually rise to the understanding of it. Nevertheless, center of the Earth, through the crust, and surface and penetrate it. This process although the cause of the Aurora is well into space, enveloping us and creating a happens at solar maximum.